The Cottage Sept/Oct Samhain 2002
The Crones Crafts


Samhain Crafts

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Jack-o-Lantern Candles

This project is nothing but fun! It is NOT a project for kids: hot wax and Exacto knives are very dangerous. We made one of a kind jack-o-lanterns this time, but check out our great ideas for other occasions--maybe even no occasion at all. Add our essential oils for really fun aromatherapy candles. Get ready to light up the night!


What You'll Need:
Candlewax: Available in many forms at craft stores. You will need about 1-lbs. per candle.
Color: Made for candle and soap making. You can also use crayons. We used orange and yellow.
Candlewicking: Use wire-coated candlewicking that has a metal wick stand on the bottom. These need to be at least 3-inches long and one per candle.
Round water balloons: approximately 2 1/2-inches in diameter when filled.
Vegetable Oil Spray
Essential Oils of your choice
Piece of old pantyhose
Black fine point marker
Two 26-oz. cans, empty, clean, and dry: These must be large and deep enough to dip an entire filled balloon into. Use one for melting each color of wax.
Exacto knife
Large pot: DO NOT use one you use for cooking. No matter how hard you try, you will get wax on it. (Garage sales and thrift shops are a great source for these.)
Wire rack or metal trivet that will sit firmly on the bottom of the pot. Sticks for stirring wax, one for each color: Disposable chopsticks or wooden paint stirrers work great.
Newspapers: Best to put an old vinyl tablecloth down and cover it with at least five layers of newspapers. Then cover all with butcher paper to keep newsprint from staining candles. Lay newspaper on the floor between the stove and worktable too.
Old Potholders and hot pads
Old pizza pan or cookie sheet
Several old dishtowels or hand towels
Several rubber bands
Large bowl 1. Set up your work area. Put the newspapers and butcher paper on the table and floor. Put hot pad and candlewicking on the table. Fill the pot with water to a depth of about 1/2 the cans' height. Place the trivet or rack on the pot's bottom. Set the pizza pan next to the pot along with the potholders, a couple of dishtowels, rubber bands, and chopsticks. Fill each can about 3/4 full of wax. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for melting. In general, break the wax into chips or small blocks to help it melt faster. Pinch the top of one side of one can together so that it forms a spout.

2. Fill the water balloons with cold water and tie them tightly shut. Dry them off and spray them with vegetable oil. Put them in the bowl and place it in the refrigerator.

3. Turn the burner to medium-high and bring water to a rolling boil. Set the can of wax without the spout on the trivet in the pot. DO NOT LEAVE MELTING WAX UNATTENDED. Stir the wax until it begins to melt, and then lower the heat to medium. As water boils out of the pot, add more. Stir until the wax is completely melted, add the outside color, and a few drops of essential oils. Mix thoroughly.

4. CAREFULLY, lift the can out of the water and set it on the pizza pan. Turn off the burner. Fold the dishtowel until it is half the height of the can. Very carefully, wrap the dishtowel around the bottom half of the can and secure with rubber bands.

5. Set the bowl of water balloons on the table. Carefully carry over the melted wax. Dip a balloon into the wax to about an inch from its top. Lift out and hold over the can for several seconds. Continue dipping until the coat of wax is 1/4-inch thick. Set the coated balloon down on the butcher paper and press gently for a few seconds until it stands on its own. Dip the rest of the balloons and let them cool. Break the water balloons over the sink with a knife or scissors to drain remove the balloon. Return the wax shells back to the table.

6. Add water to the pot if necessary and bring to a boil. Add the can of wax with the spout, and repeat the melting process above adding the inside color and essential oils.

7. The shells need to be filled carefully in increments and allowed to cool between each addition to keep the hot wax from melting them. Slowly pour a little of the melted wax into each shell. When wax is semi-soft, add the wicks, and let cool for about 5-10 minutes. (Putting them in the refrigerator will speed up the cooling process.) Keep adding melted wax in increments until filled to about 1/4-from the top. You will have to re-melt and melt more wax to finish filling them. Check them often while cooling and gently pull the wicks straight if necessary.

8. When filled and cooled, dip each one into a bowl of ice water. This helps give them a gloss.

9. Draw a jack-o-lantern face on each one with the marker. Carefully carve the face out from the outer layer with the Exacto knife. Polish away any imperfections or marks with the pantyhose.

10. Trim the wicks to about 1/2-inch, and you're done. Make sure to place them on a small saucer when burning since wax may drip out of the carved faces.

 

Spooky Halloween Hands
Take two plastic latex gloves and fill with water (don't fill so much that the fingers won't move). Tie ends closed tightly. Lay the gloves on a cookie sheet and freeze solid.After the gloves are frozen, remove ice from the plastic gloves (cut the gloves off). Add the hands to red punch. If using a light colored punch, just fill the gloves with red koolaid (don't add sugar or the koolaid won't freeze properly) instead of plain water.
 
Halloween Sidewalk Chalk
2 parts Plaster of Paris
1 part Water
Colored Tempra Paint or Food ColoringMix Plaster of Paris with water. Mix in desired food color.Pour into toilet paper tubes.Let dry thoroughly (this may take a few days).Remove the chalk from the tubes and give to your favorite artist to draw halloween pictures on the sidewalk.

Spooky Halloween Apples
Peel some apples but don't core them. Have an adult carve indentations for the eyes, nose, ears, mouth, etc. using a sharp knife. Place the apples on a baking sheet and put them in a warm place (on a window sill in the sun, near a heater, etc..) until the apples become shriveled and dried Paste googly eyes, wool for the hair, beads for earrings, etc. to the dried apple heads. Use your imagination and create some spooky heads for halloween.
 
Add green food coloring to apple cider for an interesting halloween drink.


Halloween Table Cloth
White paper table cloth
Tempera acrylic paint
Stickers
Halloween pictures Take a white paper tablecloth and paint on halloween ghosts, pumpkins, black cats, etc. Stick on Halloween stickers or glue on pictures related to halloween..
 
Halloween Spider
Black yarn
Small square of cardboard
Black pipe cleaners
Googly eyes
Glue Wind the black yarn around the small square of cardboard until it's heavily covered;. hold it together by tying a small piece of yarn to the center. Remove the cardboard. Insert three pipe cleaners into the knotted centre and bend to form the legs. Glue on the goggly eyes. Use black thread to suspend the spider.
 
 
Spooky Halloween Balloons
 
Blow up black or orange balloons and draw scary faces on them with an orange or black marker. Hang them in windows or in doorways.ORCover helium balloons with old tattered sheets with scary faces painted on them.
 
Spooky Halloween Ice Cubes
Put gummy worms in water in ice tray for spooky cubes to put in drinks or punch bowl..Submitted by Kelly from VA.

Popcorn Hands
Take white plastic gloves and fill them with popcorn. Tie at the hand with orange and black ribbons, curl ends and place a spider ring on one of the fingers and use for party favors or decorations.
Submitted by Cheryl in Ramona
 
Halloween Ghost Suckers
Get some tootsie pop suckers and a box of tissues. Place one tissue over the sucker (like a sheet) and then tie at the base of the sucker with black or orange yarn.Get a black marker and make a face like this O O (but fill in the circles).

Submitted by Crystal
 
Newt EyesTissue (pink or white)
Water
Thread (optional)
Paints or felt tips
Somewhere warm Take some squares of tissue (toilet type) and dip them into the water.Roll them into a ball then leave them to dry.When they're hard (or dry) paint or draw in red veins, and any color for the eyes. If you want to hang them up before you dry them properly get out as much water as you can then push a hole in with your nail. Let it dry and thread in some string. Submitted by Jemma Gates
 
Halloween Cookie Jars
Paint clay pots black and let dry. Glue orange rickrack around top edges.and write guests names with white paint. For ghosts you will need peanut shaped sandwich cookies, white frosting, and black gel icing. To make ghost, frost one side of cookie. Add eyes and mouth with gel icing. Fill pots with candy corn and ghosts.  :)
 
Submitted by Kristine Gints
 
White Formula for Face Painting


2 ts White shortening
5 ts Cornstarch
1 ts White flour
3-4 drops glycerin
Food color
2-1/2 tsp Cocoa* *For brown beards, or caveman styles.
Using a rubber spatula, blend the shortening, cornstarch, and flour on a plate to form a smooth paste.

Add 3 or 4 drops of glycerin for a creamy consistency. Add any color of food coloring.



Tuna Can Spider

Paint a tuna can black. Drill a hole in the center of the bottom of the can, put a washer inside the can and tie a string to this (to hang the spider). Glue wiggly eyes and red rick-rack to one side for the face. Drill four small holes on opposing sides, insert black pipe cleaners and hot glue them on the inside of the can. Bend the legs like a spider and hang up!
(Thanks to Deb Sammons for this idea!)


Hose Pumpkin

Cut a big enough piece of dryer vent hose to form into a circle. Wire the ends together with light crafting wire. Spray paint it orange. Hot glue a 2" piece of branch (stem) and a few silk leaves to the top center.
(Thanks to Deb Sammons for this idea!)


Spider Mobile

Cut one black pipe cleaner into four equal lengths. Push all 4 through one black (large holed) bead, centering the bead on the pipe cleaners. Spread and bend the legs to look like a spider. Make enough spiders to place about 2-3" between spiders as they hang from a ring. Attach spiders using yarn to a 4-6" diameter ring (wood, plastic, paper plate, etc). Use "loose" cotton to spread a web-like haze over top of ring and down some of the yarns. Use three pieces of yarn or ribbon to make "hanger."



Cottonball Ghost Pin

Pull/manipulate one cotton ball into a ghost shape and glue two "eyes" to it. Use a looped piece of masking tape (rolled sticky side out) to attach to clothes.

Halloween Candles

#1: Glue two "eyes" to a candle (votive, 4", 6", etc.). Can add a small black circle for the mouth. #2: Melt some paraffin inside a can placed in a pan of hot water (on the stove). Paint the melted paraffin over a leaf onto a candle. Tie appropriate ribbon around base of candle.

Pumpkin Pencil Topper

Use black pipe cleaner to make jack-o-lantern face on a 1"-2" diameter orange pom-pom. Glue to top of a pencil.


Centerpeice

Use artificial autumn leaves and/or small ears of Indian corn grouped with a few miniature pumpkins, or a few lollipop ghosts, etc. for a centerpiece.

Living Skeleton

You'll need 6 white pipe cleaners, two wiggly eyes and a rubberband. Bend one pipe cleaner in half to make the backbone. Twist one around the bottom of the backbone to shape into legs. Do the same for the arms near the top of the backbone. Join two pipe cleaners and wind them round and round the backbone, extending about 1" on each side to form the ribcage. Bend the last pipe cleaner into a swirl for the head. Glue on two wiggly eyes and attach rubberband to head for hanging.